Anonymity (11 page)

"
Fine. We need to keep moving." Alyssa grabbed his backpack from him and slipped it over her shoulder with hers and took the hatchet. "I'll lead the way. Our best bet is to find the others. Reggie will know what to do."

"There are a lot of vines—"

"Do you think I'm blind? Help carry Savannah. I know how to swing a hatchet and carry a flashlight, spare me the instruction manual." She grabbed the things from him and nodded toward the others.

He smiled despite the circumstance. From fearful to fierce in under a minute. He loved it.

"Damn, it hurts so bad." Savannah cried and grabbed at his shoulders. "If it was poisonous, how much time do I have before it needs to get treated? This is really bad, isn't it?"

He met Bill's gaze and remained silent as they adjusted Savannah's weight between them. They followed their fearless leader as she swiped vines, swore beneath her breath, and swung the flashlight at every noise.

* * *

Chapter
Seven

She'd never been so thrilled in her life to see an ancient yellow school bus sitting on a muddy road. Tears of relief burned her eyes
. When Reggie ran down to them, she resisted the urge to leap into his arms.

"Savannah's been
bitten by a snake, but we don't know what kind." The words rushed out on one breath.

She shined the light on the trio behind her before trudging forward to the bus. She needed to sit, take off the damn poncho, and hopefully find a bottle of water.

"We're still missing two," Reggie said when Bill asked if everyone had made it here.

Her bottom lip trembled with suppressed emotion as she climbed the stairs, walked past the other muddy faces onboard, and collapsed into the seat she'd inhabited earlier in the day. She dropped the hatchet and flashlight to the floor, covered her eyes with her hands, and
silently cried.

Finally, she could release it. Memories of it all slammed into her mind...boat capsizing, struggling underwater not knowing which way was up, snagging the branch,
tripping in the mud, worrying about the unknown...all of it.

Maybe she needed to revise her resolution
s to make them more user friendly and remove the word 'adventurous' from the list.

"With Savannah's bite, we can't risk waiting. Bill's staying here to wait for the others. There's that little restaurant, remember? Reggie managed to get it open earlier, knows the owner, so Bill's going to wait there until we can send help back." Luke sat on the bench seat opposite her and peeled off the poncho. "There's no medical care at the village.
Reggie's doing what he can, but without knowing what kind of snake—"

"Can you please stop saying the word
snake
?" She bit out the last word, knew she was acting like a bitch, but her nerves had come undone.

"Yeah, I can do that." He scooted backward on the seat until his head rested on the closed window.

She sat up and looked out the window at Bill who stood alone with a flashlight in front of the little restaurant that had been a flurry of activity when they'd first arrived hours ago. She lifted her hand to the window, not sure if he could see her, but hating that he looked so sad when they pulled away.

All the stories he and Savannah had shared about the travels of the group had made her feel like she knew them, too.

"Here are sandwiches and water." Bobby loomed over her in the dark bus, his face covered with mud and t-shirt torn. "We're all fine now. Dad feels real bad about the boat. He's a good captain. It will all be fine now."

She grinned at him, grateful to be headed away from the river. "Thank you. No one blames your dad. Things happen."

Trembling fingers unwrapped the sandwich; her stomach growled in anticipation. Thankful for the darkness, she wiped at her tears while forcing herself to eat. Knots bound her stomach. All that had dried was now soaked again. She couldn't remember ever feeling so dirty and scared. She'd thought horrible things about Savannah who'd turned out to be a nice woman who laid up there moaning in pain from a snake bite that could kill her.

Less than twenty-four hours ago they'd all been at Ramon's listening to Dave the Gringo sing while Rosie kept t
hem all delightfully delirious.

Being less judgmental would definitely be added to her resolutions list. She used the sandwich wrapper to wipe the tears from her face.

The bus moved at a crawl, its rusty metal shell groaning with the struggle of traversing the muddy road. Lightning flashed, the storm intensifying the closer they moved toward the village and the coast.

She struggled out of the poncho and gladly tossed it aside.
The tightness on her ankles reminded her of the rubber bands Luke had insisted she wear. Sighing, she glanced over at him.

He looked out the window, his backpack on his lap, and sandwich uneaten by his side.

She slid onto his seat and held the sandwich up. "You should eat. We still have a long night ahead of us."

He shook his head and met her gaze through the darkness. "I'm a lawyer, a divorce attorney. I don't climb mountains; I hike on well-groomed trails.
I'm not any kind of survivor man. I like you a lot."

The sandwich dangled in the air between them.

Stunned by his outburst, she frowned. "I'm an assistant curator at an art museum. I don't climb mountains either, but I do ski. I hate the show Survivor and all things that resemble camping. I like you a lot, too."

He grinned then and grabbed the sandwich. "Well, now that we have that cleared up...
Temporary or not, I needed you to know a little of who I am when I'm not kayaking or trekking through the jungle."

"Or screwing me against palm trees or hammocks?" she whispered against his ear, enjoying making him smile.

"Art museum, huh?"

"We're crossing too many lines."

"The lines are blurred, don't you think?"

Fresh tears warmed her eyes. She scrubbed them away with a closed fist. She didn't want the lines to be blurred. There was only so much a person could take and letting someone inside her heart again would be
disastrous. She didn't want to get attached, feared she'd already started caring too much.

"I can't stop crying since we got on the bus," she whispered.

"It's the nerves. We've had a stressful...insane...day and it's not over yet. Who knows what else could happen?" He put his arm around her and pulled her to the side.

Slam!
The bus skidded to the side and careened off the road, where it crashed into a tree.

She
flew out of his arms and beneath the seat in front of him. Luke's head banged against the window.

"Would you please stop daring the Universe?" she asked after crawling back onto the seat. "Whenever you say anything, it happens. Please stop. Or say something like...can it get any better than this...or can the sun shine any brighter...good things."

He wasn't listening to her. He'd already stood and looked toward the front of the bus. "We're going to have to walk."

"No. Fucking. Way." She pulled at the ends of her hair, worried she'd lose her mind before this day ended.

He reached into her abandoned seat for the backpack and poncho. "Time to suit up. We need to get Savannah back to Ambergris Caye for medical attention fast. Everyone's starting to move this way for the exit door. I wish we knew what kind of snake—"

"Seriously, I'm not kidding, stop saying that word. I don't need a fucking play-by-play, I was there. Understand me?"

"Understood."

Gritting her teeth, she watched him gear up before opening the back of the bus for those who carried Savannah. When she met her friend's eyes, she forced a grin.

"It's going to be okay," Savannah said as she passed even though her beautiful face was contorted in pain and streaked with mud. "I'm going to be fine."

"I know you are. You're tough."

She waited until they'd all passed before jumping to the muddy earth herself. With a sigh, she watched Luke lift Savannah into his arms and start the march toward the village.

As an afterthought, she climbed back into the abandoned bus and retrieved their flashlights and hatchet. Reggie, the good captain, waited for her with a smile.

"I have rum punch on the speedboat," he said. "I always save it for the ride back to the island."

She squinted through the rain and handed him one of the flashlights. "I think I love you, Reggie. You are the best captain ever."

Resting the hatchet on her shoulder, she walked with him side-by-side behind the others, no longer afraid of any predator sneaking up on her. In her current mood, no jaguar would dare.

* * *

He looked over his shoulder to where Alyssa walked with Reggie and Bobby. Rain slid down the neck of the poncho, making him wonder what the hell the thing was good for anyway. It failed to keep anything dry.

"What's the deal with you two?" Savannah asked, her head bobbing against his shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

"When she's around you, it's like you're a different person. She lights you up."

He shook his head and kept putting one foot in front of the other despite the exhaustion weighing him down. He'd seen the purple extending beyond the wound on Savannah's leg and knew the poison spread despite his pitiful attempts at playing medic.

"She's good for you." Her words slurred.

"It's just temporary, no earth shattering love affair. Sorry to disappoint you."

She looked up at him, brown eyes full of agony. Paleness evaporated her tan. "You're not as smart as I thought you were."

"Look who's talking. You threw yourself at me while Bill followed you around like a lovesick puppy dog. You're pretty clueless." He focused on the road ahead, wishing he'd eaten the entire sandwich to refuel.

She wrapped her fingers
into his poncho and stayed quiet.

The village appeared ahead of him. He thought it was the most beautiful place in the world.
The bus driver ran ahead when he saw the lights, yelled something about waking up his wife who could help Savannah.

After that, other villagers started running toward them in the rain.
Another man took Savannah from his arms and ran with her toward the dock. He stopped moving and caught his breath. He felt like he'd been in a race around the world.

When Alyssa walked past him talking with the captain, he noticed the hatchet hanging over her shoulder and wished he had a camera. All of this was worth capturing on film, yet that had been the farthest thing from his mind until now.

The bus driver had collected more men who were preparing to go back for Bill and to help with the bus. The entire village had snapped to life, people shoved water bottles at them. A woman leaned over Savannah's leg.

Alyssa walked slowly on the slippery boards of the dock on the way to the dock.

Great, another boat.
He winced and forced himself in her direction. Lighting shot across the sky. Thunder rolled.

"Nice axe. Are you keeping it as a
souvenir?" he asked when he caught up to her.

"Yeah,
I have such fond memories of it." She grinned and looked up at him. "Reggie has rum on the boat."

"No wonder he's suddenly your best friend." He held her steady when she slid on the dock whose boards were as slick as ice in the rain. "It's not going to be—"

"Do. Not. Say. It." She pointed a finger in his face. "Whatever you were about to warn me about, don't you dare say it."

"Yes, ma'am." He bit back a smile. "So where is the rum?"

"Reggie has it and, as soon as I sit down on the boat, you're going to get me some."

"Am I?"

"Yep, that's part of our deal, too. You must wait on me."

"I don't remember agreeing to that at any time during our negotiations." He helped her onto the boat before turning his attention to where Savannah's friends now carried her toward them. "A group of men from the village are headed back for Bill and to help find the others."

She watched, too, her face somber.

Strange how strangers could bond so easily in a crisis. When they'd all boarded the boat in the morning, being polite and having fun had been the only thing on the agenda. Now they all felt like an integral part of his life and he cared deeply about their welfare. He looked down at the top of Alyssa's head and sighed.

For someone who'd wanted simple, he suddenly felt like everything had become very complicated.

"Rum, please." She glanced up from beneath her
yellow hood, face streaked with mud and green muck, leaned on the hatchet, and winked.

"You can't take that thing with you." He reached for the hatchet intending to set it on the dock. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that could be if—"

"Don't say it." She grabbed a fistful of his poncho, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him into silence. Smiling against his lips, she said, "Rum. Please. Now."